


GSW

by DestinyFreeReally



Series: Headline: Investigative Journalist Karen Page Gets Shot [1]
Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Karen's worklife threatens her actual life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-04-21 00:15:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14272674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestinyFreeReally/pseuds/DestinyFreeReally
Summary: Claire puts up with some vigilante's shit, and Karen Page is going to be fine.





	GSW

 “How is she?”   
  
    A voice from the shadows stopped Claire Temple dead in her stride. Her first break all day, and she managed to get two feet from the hospital door before somebody else needed something else from her. Pulling her sweater tighter to her chest, she turned around, and sighed, scanning the dark for whatever shit was being thrown her way at that particular moment.    
  
    “Karen Page.” The voice had no give, no softness; it was all edge.  _ Even the devil of Hell’s Kitchen gets a night off, _ Claire straightened, realizing she wasn’t dealing with her regular brand of stalkery vigilante. “ _ How is _ Karen Page?”    
  
    Swallowing, Claire nodded. “Karen was admitted twenty hours ago, apparent GSW to her left shoulder. After six hours of surgery-” Claire folded her arms across her chest, when the person in the shadows hissed a curse. “She should be okay,” she offered, and it seemed to give the guy pause. “Do I know you?”    
  
_ Karen’s gonna be okay. _ Claire was a nurse, Frank had to believe she knew her shit. Karen was gonna be okay.    
  
    “The whole damn city does,” Frank stepped into the glow of the streetlight, and to the nurse’s credit, she didn’t flinch at the face of the Punisher.    
  
    With a slow nod, Claire sighed, again.  _ Figures.  _ Didn’t the newspapers have him written up dead? Again?   
  
    “I’ve been awake for seventy two hours straight. For all I know I’m hallucinating and standing here talking to an actual ghost, or even myself.” Turning back away from Frank, Claire took another three steps and stopped herself, again. “If you tell the front desk you’re family, they’ll let you up to her. But if anyone dies in the entire building while you’re even in the neighborhood, I’ll report you so fast you won’t have time to see Karen for yourself.”    
  
    Eyes on the wet street, Frank took a breath.  _ Family. _ Wasn’t that what Karen really was?    
  
    “I would, but I’m…” Frank straightened his mouth into a line.    
  
    More than once, the  _ Punisher  _ had put Karen in danger. Even if this particular bullet couldn’t be linked to him, even if it was a mess she’d gotten herself into, Frank knew in his gut that he could’ve protected her. He could’ve protected her, and he didn’t; she was hurt, and shot, and upstairs in a hospital bed, probably laying next to whatever cheap flowers Red picked out to babysit her. Was it hypocritical of Frank to blame the  _ Devil _ for not protecting Karen, when the  _ Punisher _ hadn’t either? He figured it wasn’t hypocritical as long as he hated himself, too. And he did.   
  
    “A selfish coward?” Claire volunteered, an edge in her own voice. Vigilantes making her their own personal EMS-trauma-center-RN-therapist was starting to get old. Especially with the city chill in the air, standing out on the street.    
  
    “Actually, technically dead,” but Frank almost let a smile slip for the nurse.    
  
    “Well, that sounds complicated,” Claire deadpanned. “Karen’s gonna pull through; I’ll pass it along that a corpse came calling.”    
  
    “Don’t,” Frank straightened, calling after the nurse even as she walked away. “I’ll see her myself,” he breathed; he had to find a way. 


End file.
